Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2” is the epic and impassioned close that the saga deserves, a sweeping Wagnerian finish that’s taut with suspense and wet with emotion. Ten years ago, the Potter lad was a flop-topped 11-year-old starting his first year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; now he’s an earnest young hero who squares off against the evil-nosed Voldemort with humility and rasping grit.

Followers of J.K. Rowling’s seven-book magnum opus already know how it ends. Followers of the movies probably have a good idea, too, but knowing what happens in this, the eighth and last film adaptation — the fourth straight directed by David Yates — doesn’t lessen the wallop. Who dies? Which characters pop up in an epilogue? Whose ashes float artfully skyward, swirling and rising in graceful 3-D? You’ll have to wait and see, but rest easy: the closing battle sequence is an absolute wowzer, both biblical in scale and personal in impact. The epilogue, which caused a lot of fans a lot of angst, is A-OK. And the 3-D conversion job is the finest I’ve ever seen.

“Deathly Hallows 2” is the first Potter installment to expand beyond two dimensions. At two hours and 10 minutes, it’s the shortest. It’s the swiftest. It’s also the simplest, offering a straightforward, thrill-a-minute capper to one of the fantasy realm’s longest and most convoluted plots.

Adapted briskly and faithfully by Steve Kloves (who penned all but the fifth Potter screenplay), the movie jumps right in where the last one ended — with Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes) acquisition of the all-powerful Elder Wand. It then catches up with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and best buds Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) on their quest to find and destroy the remaining “horcruxes,” which, for the uninitiated (as if any of them care), are chips of Voldemort’s soul implanted in various magical tchotchkes.

If Harry kills the horcruxes, he can kill Voldemort, too — unless Voldemort kills him first.

Pretty basic stuff. But the richness of this final “Potter” has less to do with its central plotline — which is, after all, little more than a gobsmacking feature-length climax to the dawdling “Part 1” — than the conclusive heft of the thing, the accumulated dramatic weight of beloved characters finally and forcefully realizing their long-promised destinies. Our heroes behave as heroes should when facing likely death: with courage, resignation, quiet grief. Yates handles these important and intimate scenes with the same breathless urgency he gives the apocalyptic blitzkrieg at Hogwarts Castle.

When Harry arrives there at last through an underground passage, we hear the first soft strains of “Hedwig’s Theme” from John Williams’ original score — a leitmotif for the conquering hero. From the very beginning, the Boy Who Lived wore the jagged mark of an anointed one on his forehead. What adds to that, now, is the artistic maturation of everyone involved, not the least of which are the young leads themselves. Radcliffe especially has grown into a subtly effective actor: he’s now man enough, and solemn enough, to utter lines like “I need to talk to the goblin” without a hiccup of doubt or embarrassment. It becomes, when he says it, the gravest of sentiments.

As a genre, fantasy has always showcased innocence on its mythic, meandering journey to confront the forces of evil. Harry — like Frodo, or Luke, or Arthur before him — loses that innocence along the way. But he never loses heart. He stays true to himself through the end, whatever that may bring. It’s the ghost of Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) who says what we’re all feeling: “Harry, you wonderful boy. You brave, brave man.”

To that I would only add: Nice job, kid. Thrilling, thrilling movie.

Movie review
‘‘HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS — PART 2’’
Length: 130 minutes
Rated: PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence and frightening images
Four stars out of four

Michael Huber

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